Birmingham City boss Cotterill prepares to make changes for visit of Leeds United

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Bottom of the table Birmingham slipped to their fourth defeat from their last five games on Boxing Day when Norwich City recorded a 2-0 victory to condemn their hosts to a third consecutive home loss.

Cotterill, wary of the potential for fatigue in his squad amid a busy Christmas and New Year schedule, will now have Southampton loanee Sam Gallagher back available after the striker missed the Canaries clash due to suspension.

The Blues boss revealed he is set to make further changes with City’s Isaac Vassell and Carl Jenkinson already out injured and striker Che Adams joining them on the sidelines.

Birmingham will have an extra day off compared to Leeds following Saturday’s clash in the West Midlands, the Blues visiting Reading next Tuesday, 24 hours after United welcome Nottingham Forest to Elland Road on New Year’s Day.

“There will be a few changes for the game,” said Cotterill. “We will need to freshen up some areas, after looking at some of the numbers the lads have produced over the last couple of games.

“That will be in my mind going into this game and obviously the game against Reading as well.

“We’ll have to see where we are with everybody then, maybe, there could be a player or two that will have to play slightly out of position going forward into the Reading game.

“We can ill afford any more injuries, particularly fatigue ones, so it will be important to look at the distances the boys have run and being able to get another gallop out of them in the next game.”

Turning his attention to striker Adams, Cotterill added: “Che Adams is probably ruled out.

“I don’t think he’s going to be ready for this weekend’s game and Reading is that close you just don’t know at the moment.”